MAP44: Suburbs (PlayStation Doom)

MAP44: Suburbs is the forty-fourth level of the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn versions of Doom, and the fourteenth level of the Doom II episode. It is based on the original MAP16: Suburbs, with modifications made to adapt the map to the consoles' limitations. The author of the original map is Sandy Petersen.

This level contains an added secret exit to.

Essentials
From the start, walk straight ahead and go through the door just around the corner. The outdoor area you arrive in consists of two small buildings inside a tall, circular, black barrier wall, as well as several buildings outside the wall. There are two exits in the black wall (B); go through either and make your way to the nukage pond in the south-west corner of the level. In the pool is a wooden structure with some stairs leading up to the blue skull key. Upon taking the key, a large number of monsters will teleport in - imps appear on all skill levels, joined by cacodemons and mancubi on Hurt Me Plenty (HMP) and Ultra Violence (UV) skill levels.

North of the starting building is a gray brick building; climb the tan stairs and follow the path round to a wooden door to get inside the building. You will see a blue door on the left - go through it and take the red skull key sitting on the window behind the door. (If you want to reach the secret level, do so now following the instructions below.)

To exit the level, head back through the door you used to enter the gray brick building. You will see a black and white cubic structure in front of you. Press use on the sides of the black platforms here and they will lower like lifts, allowing you to climb the structure. Lowering the second lift also opens a room at the top of the structure containing a number of imps. In the corner of this room is a red skull bar; open it with the red key and step into the teleporter behind it to finish the level and go on to MAP45: Tenements.

Secret exit
This level contains a secret exit to MAP58: The Mansion, accessible after going through the blue door in the northern brick building. At the window that holds the red skull key, you will see a skull switch on the wall next to it. Press this switch to temporarily lower the skull wall in the previous room and reveal a teleporter; step into that teleporter to be taken to a ledge with four plasma guns on it.

As soon as you arrive, run forward off the ledge and go to the west side of the red brick building in front of you. Open the silver door in the wall here to find that the skull wall behind it has temporarily opened; step through and press the skull switch behind it to go to the secret level. If the secret exit shuts before you reach it, go back to the red skull key room to try again.

Other points of interest
There are two small caves on the west side of the level. The south cavern contains a partial invisibility powerup and two boxes of shotgun shells. The north cavern contains an invulnerability powerup, which will be useful when fighting the enemies that teleport in after collecting the blue key.

There are two podiums north of the gray brick building on the north side of the level, which hold mancubi on HMP and UV. You can get to the podiums by heading west around the outside of the building. The west podium holds a soulsphere, while the east podium holds a shotgun and a box of shells.

Inside the gray brick building is a room sealed off by bars, which contains a berserk pack and a rocket launcher. You can open the wall just south of the bars by pressing use on it; alternatively, the wall will open when you collect the blue key.

Secrets

 * 1) Enter the southern building in the central area in the level. Inside is a blue-carpeted "apartment" with a pedestal-like structure in its center. Use the pedestal like a lift, and ride it up. There is a tiny hole in the eastern wall of this room, through which a skull wall can be seen. Shoot inside this hole to cause a bookshelf on the right to rise, revealing a megasphere. (sector 37) You must step into the pit that the megasphere sits in to register the secret.
 * 2) From secret #1, press use on the torch in the south-west corner of the room to raise a nearby wall. This will leave a small low wall which can be used as a lift; ride it up and then shoot the hole in the wall ahead to open another wall on your right. The alcove behind it contains a backpack and two boxes of shells. (sector 39)
 * 3) Enter the red brick building in the east of the map through the door in its eastern wall. The skull wall behind the door is translucent and can be walked through. (sector 64)
 * 4) Inside secret #3, lower the metal wall on the right and ride it up. At the top, run to the adjacent raised platform into a nukage pool. Press the skull switch to reveal an alcove containing a BFG9000, three energy cell packs and a medikit. (sector 55)

Bugs
The high number of monsters in this level, combined with the high occurrence of monster infighting that results, frequently causes the PlayStation port to crash on high skill levels during this level.

Room design

 * All switches use a skull switch on metal wall texture.
 * A linedef is removed from the western side of the red brick building to make room for the secret exit.
 * The blood pool in the red brick building is changed to nukage.
 * The red/blue fire wall in the northern building is changed to use skull textures, and is slightly larger.
 * The exit teleporter is red instead of white.

Monster placement

 * No spectres appear in the level on HMP and lower skill levels.
 * Five imps are removed from the garage next to the "apartment" building on HMP and UV. One imp is removed from the ledge overlooking the start point on UV.
 * The arch-vile that appears outside the starting building on HMP and UV is replaced with a revenant. The arch-vile protecting the invulnerability powerup in the western caves on UV is removed without being replaced.

Music
The map uses the following music tracks:

Player spawns
This level contains seven spawn points:
 * 1) facing south-west. (thing 4)
 * 2) facing south-west. (thing 232)
 * 3) facing north. (thing 233)
 * 4) facing south. (thing 234)
 * 5) facing north-west. (thing 235)
 * 6) facing north-east. (thing 236)
 * 7) facing south-east. (thing 237)

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level: